Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Dec 07, 2012 Chaitra rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: part-of-a-series, child-or-teenage-protagonist, war, book-at-wall, fantasy, too-stupid-to-live, romance, too-twilighty, young-adult, science-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Peeta was the best thing about the trilogy, and what made the first two books work after a fashion was the interaction between Peeta and Katniss. They're foils to each other's personalities, and it kept the books on a mostly even keel. With Mockingjay, Collins takes away Peeta for a good part of the book and re-introduces him as a tortured and turned into evil Capitol mutt. What that leaves us with is the big reveal that Katniss Everdeen is a soulless automaton.

I'm among the people that actuall Peeta was the best thing about the trilogy, and what made the first two books work after a fashion was the interaction between Peeta and Katniss. They're foils to each other's personalities, and it kept the books on a mostly even keel. With Mockingjay, Collins takes away Peeta for a good part of the book and re-introduces him as a tortured and turned into evil Capitol mutt. What that leaves us with is the big reveal that Katniss Everdeen is a soulless automaton.

I'm among the people that actually liked the plot twist that Peeta was taken captive and was turned into whatever. That, according to me, was a great opportunity to introduce some long pending humanity to Katniss, and a good way to sort out her feelings for Gale and Peeta. And yet, what do we get? Katniss behaving atrociously towards Peeta, with no cause for her to do so. Yes, he tries to kill her - but how hard is it for her to understand that it's the Capitol's fault and not his? Where is her humanity, if not love? She hears him calling her mutt, which he now believes she is, and then turns tail and escapes to District 2 where she not only doesn't have to face him, but also writes him off. Why? Because he doesn't think Katniss is so wonderful anymore.

This is your heroine, Collins? This is so shallow, that I can't even. This guy loved Katniss to the exception of everyone else, saved her bacon so many times even while being tortured, she herself has mentioned that she will never stop owing him. Would not a normal person do every single thing possible to bring such a guy back, to at least be there for him when he needs them? It is interesting to note that it's only Katniss that casts him off the first sign of trouble. Haymitch stays with him, District 13 - under no obligation to do so - assigns people to work with him. Sure, there are obvious advantages to this, but could Katniss not have found one if everyone else could? One kind word, one simple touch, whether Collins chose to make it work or not, definitely would have shown Katniss in a better light. But there is the whole twilight-y unresolved love triangle bullshit to consider, is there not?

That Katniss is an emotionless zombie is not the only fault of the book, though that's the worst one. It's a story of a nation wide war, told from the point of view of one very unlikeable person, who seems to spend half her time in the hospital in this book. Fail, Suzanne Collins, when you have to tell, not show what's happening in the better part of the book. There was no valid reason for continuing with the first person pov of one person, when there could have easily been a split between characters. Other books have done that when their scope changed, and to good effect. If you are going to persist on following no one but Katniss, at least keep the black outs to a minimum. She supposedly had a trial to stay her execution in the end, and all we get is pages of Katniss in a dilemma as to whether or not she should kill herself, and Haymitch appearing in the end, and saying, "You're free Mockingjay! You can fly again". It's so sloppily done, it makes me wonder if I should pick up the first book, which I loved, again, to see if I made a mistake in deciding that Collins can write.

The way Katniss behaves is indication as to how the other characters are handled - not very well. Haymitch, Plutarch, Johanna, the District 13 mayor, all had tiny roles, even though Haymitch is pretty badass in what he does. Peeta comes in too late in the game, and considering how much time Katniss spends avoiding him, we don't see him. She similarly avoids Gale, because he calls out her bullshit, and he was cardboard to begin with. When he's not calling Katniss out, what little we do see of him is disgusting - he's the male version of Katniss. Finnick has the largest character arc - he turns out to be the most decent person in the whole of the trilogy, save for maybe Peeta. His fate, therefore, is obvious. Prim is hilariously grown up - she sounds like Katniss should have sounded given all the life changing trauma she's been through, instead of walking around in a childish sulk. Her fate too is obvious. Among the new characters, the only one worth mentioning is Boggs, who is a good soldier from District 13. Should I mention the refrain about fate? Guess what happened to Cinna? Fate. It didn't even catch up with him on page.

It's not all bad though, I like the ending and epilogue for which I give this 2 stars. I don't believe that the ending was hopeless, quite the contrary. I give Collins props to showing the cost of war - that the characters are now changed and are only trying to survive in the midst of all destruction. Katniss felt real in the end, sincere. This was the Katniss I could get behind, not the vapid, petty, twilight-inspired beast we followed throughout the book. But that is it to recommend this book to me. At this moment, this is not a series I will touch again, nor another book by this author.

Edit. I can't be the only one bothered by the number of times Katniss ingests a drug, right? This is a young adult book that tells people that it's ok to go drown your sorrows (read self pity) in a drug-induced haze, instead of facing them in a mature, adult fashion. I did not bat an eyelid when Katniss is chosen to be just the face of the revolution and not its leader, because really, this girl couldn't lead a couple of kids down the road (this thought actually gives me the creeps). ...more

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May 07, 2012 Caren ~ the misfit geek rated it really liked it

Shelves: dystopian, part-of-a-series

This was by far the best of the three. It was so intense. The ending surprised me but didn't. I was a little disappointed about not really getting more information about Gale at the end but since he wasn't the main focus of the story as a whole that is not surprising.

(view spoiler) ...more

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